[T]HE mastermind of a £250,000 drugs supply plot has been ordered to surrender ill-gotten gains totalling almost £160,000.
Gary Andrew Duncanson, 54, was said to have headed a Carlisle criminal gang which was busted by police who seized Cumbria’s largest ever heroin consignment from several city addresses.
Duncanson and two fellow conspirators received lengthy jail terms at Carlisle Crown Court in 2015, while a number of Merseyside-based couriers were also locked up. He was handed a 20-year stretch – later reduced to 16 years on appeal. He denied any involvement in the drugs plot, but was convicted by a jury of conspiring to supply both heroin and cannabis.
Passing sentence, Judge Peter Hughes QC, had said it was “impossible” to calculate the exact quantities of illegal substances trafficked. But he approached the case on the basis that between 6kg and 8kg of heroin was transported into Carlisle during four drugs runs from Merseyside.
Police have made painstaking efforts to claw back illegally-obtained assets from the crooks. And at the crown court today (TUES), Duncanson, of The Crescent, Cummersdale, appeared over a video link from custody for a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing.
The court heard there was a criminal conduct benefit figure of £195,100, while his available assets were assessed at £158,896.23.
Judge Hughes ordered the confiscation of the latter sum. If that is not paid within three months, Duncanson faces two years’ imprisonment in default.
